Doctors post blood-soaked photos after NRA tells them to pipe down over gun restrictions
US doctors are sharing haunting pictures of the aftermath of gun violence on social media after the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) told medical experts to "stay in their lane" when it comes to firearms restrictions.
Key points: NRA criticised "self-important" anti-gun doctors
Angry medical workers responded with powerful tweets
Pathologist said profession had a responsibility to call for firearms restrictions
WARNING: Some readers my find this content disturbing.
Photos of blood-stained scrubs, graphic X-rays and moving selfies have flooded Twitter in response to a post from the NRA promoting a news release which took aim at medical professionals calling for gun restrictions.
The NRA promoted the post in a tweet, which had attracted 3,000 likes but more than 20,000 replies.
"Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane," the tweet read.
"Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control.
"Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted no-one but themselves."
Forensic pathologist Judy Melinek saw the tweet as she was preparing to perform an autopsy on a victim who died from a gunshot wound.
Angered by the message, she fired off a reply before heading to the morgue.
By the time she finished her shift, the tweet had gone viral, attracting more than 500,000 likes since Friday.
Dr Melinek has seen more carnage and trauma than most during her career, having spent months examining remains from the 9/11 World Trade Centre attack.
She was also called to the wreckage of American Airlines flight 587, which crashed shortly after taking off in New York in November 2001 with 260 people aboard. None survived.
During the two years she worked in the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, Dr Melinek was also clinical instructor in forensic medicine at New York University and has written a book about her experiences.
Other doctors around the country also took to Twitter to vent about the NRA's stance:
In an opinion piece for Vox, Dr Melinek said medical professionals had a responsibility to speak up about gun regulations, pointing out the push for tobacco regulations in response to the lung cancer epidemic caused by cigarettes.
"As scientists and caregivers, we doctors are in a unique position to understand the scale of human suffering caused by guns," she wrote.
"We didn't choose this fight, but we if we have to, we can take on the NRA."
LAgurl1997 on November 13rd, 2018 at 07:58 UTC »
My brother did surgery for 24 hrs straight after the Las Vegas shooting. He was already on call so he was up for close to 40 hrs, taking power naps in between the cases on the floor of the hospital. (He is a neurosurgeon) On that night he had 8 cases. Was only able to save one.
My brother is.....an incredibly strong person and extremely professional doc and he never speaks about his job in an emotional way.
This was the one case he shared the progress of the patient with he family especially when she took her first steps after skull replacement surgery he conducted.
She texted him on Xmas last year thanking him for saving her life.
These doctors for sure are staying in “their” lane when they mention shooting and the effect of it.
DanaScullysRevenge on November 13rd, 2018 at 03:48 UTC »
The NRA knew this was doctors’ “lane” when they supported a (now overturned) law in Florida to restrict doctors, mostly pediatricians, from discussing guns and gun safety with their patients and patients’ families.
jfoobar on November 13rd, 2018 at 03:04 UTC »
Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist quoted in the article, used to work for the New York Medical Examiner's Office in 2001 and was one of the medical examiners who processed the bodies from the World Trade Center on and after 9/11. She's seen some shit.
I read her book a couple of years ago. It was a very good read.